Codicil

I do not have much experience with wills. But googling the meaning of codicil reminded me of a story our literature teacher once shared with us.

She said that she had a friend who became a caretaker. No one was happy that she had chosen that profession, but according to our teacher, she took great pleasure in looking after older people. Years later, after obtaining all the necessary professional qualifications and certifications, she migrated and settled in a Western country. (I can't remember whether she said Canada or the USA.)

A family who needed someone to look after their father, who lived alone, hired her. She looked after this old man for a couple of years. She took such good care of him that he asked her to marry him. He was 81 at the time, and my friend's teacher had just turned 25, our teacher said.

Hearing this, my entire class was disappointed, and there were one or two "ayyos" and several sighs. But the story didn't end there.

"No, children, he didn't have such intentions. He was very rich, and his kids were too. None of his children wanted his property because they were already well off. He thought it would be a nice way to thank this young lady who had taken care of him if he could leave his assets to her," our teacher said. The old man thought it would be less complicated to marry her than to alter his will.

Her story didn't end there. The old man passed away two weeks later. As intended, she received his assets, including the house. By then, she was already a citizen of that country too.

Her boyfriend from her motherland moved there as well. They got married and lived happily ever after (at least until the time the story was told, which was about 14 years ago).

Then it became our class's shared goal to find an old man on his deathbed with lots of money and marry him. I wonder how many of them still remember this story. As far as I know, none of them married old people. But who knows? It's still not too late.